General Studies 146C: Modernity

	General Studies 146B: Modernity

Spring Semester 2007 Sally Bormann 10:00 M; 11:00 WF Hunter 106

Office: 209 Boyer House (34 Boyer Ave.)		Phone: 522-4391 (O); 529-3526 (H), 9-9 leave message
HOURS: M 11-noon, W 10-10:50 and appts. (M, W, F, 9:20-class are often good times)		EMAIL:bormans@whitman.edu
http://people.whitman.edu/~bormans		146C:http://people.whitman.edu/~bormans/core.htm

Common Course Description and Common Procedures

A two-semester exploration of the formation and transformation of some western world views (ways of understanding nature, society, the self, and the transcendent). The course will focus on the World of Antiquity and the Modern World. Attention will be given not only to the continuity in the transition of dominant world views, but also to competing and alternative visions. The course will examine some of the important individuals and events which have significantly shaped, reshaped, and challenged these world views. In this process, revolutions in thought and society, encounters between peoples and cultures, and perspectives on "us" and "them" will constitute major objects of study. The study of primary sources, discussion, and writing will be emphasized. The two semesters will be taught as a single year-long course, with the first semester a prerequisite for the second. The P-D- F grade option may not be elected for this course. Three class meetings per week.

Guidelines for Common Procedure in First-Year Core
Writing assignments are to be set by each instructor, but there will be a minimum of four written assignments and fifteen pages of writing each semester, as well as a final evaluative exercise at the end of each semester. Students who wish to change Core section may do so only at the semester break, prior to the beginning of second semester, by making a request to the Registrar. Students are not allowed to choose which section they would like to enter. Those students who seek to change sections will be assigned to other sections by the Registrar. All assignments must be completed for a student to receive a passing grade. If a student fails to turn in a paper or to take an examination, that student must receive an F or an Incomplete for the semester. The penalties for academic dishonesty are described in the Statement on Academic Honesty and Plagiarism that all students accept as proper rules for academic behavior when they arrive on campus. Any substantially plagiarized written assignment will not be considered a completion of the assignment, and will result in failing the course. The grading criteria in the various sections are determined by each instructor. Some sections may place a greater emphasis upon some aspect of the students’ work (papers, oral reports, participation in discussion, examinations, etc.) in the determination of a course grade. This course has a common set of readings, but the process of evaluation is unique to each section. Attendance, itself, is necessary but not sufficient. Students must participate in the conversation.

Texts for the Spring Semester

Kant, "An Answer to the Question What is Enlightenment?" http://www.english.upenn.edu/~mgamer/Etexts/kant.html

Descartes, Discourse on Method, trans. D. Cress. Hackett. 0-872204-22-7

Shakespeare, Othello. Ed. Russ McDonald, Penguin, 0-14-071463-4

Locke, Second Treatise of Government. Ed. C.B. Macpherson, Hackett, 0-915144-86-7

Voltaire,Candide. Trans. D.M. Frame, Signet, 0-451-52809-3

Mozart, Don Giovanni, ed. Burton D. Fisher, Opera Journeys, 1-93084-184-1

Kant, Grounding for the Metaphysics of Morals. Trans. J. Ellington. Hackett. 0-87220-166-x

English Romantic Poetry: An Anthology. Ed. S. Applebaum. Dover, 0-486-29282-7

Marx and Engels, The Communist Manifesto. International, 0-7178-0241-8

Marx Wage-Labour and Capital. International, 0-7178-0470-4

Darwin, The Origin of Species. Ed. P. Appleman. Norton. 0-393-97867-2

Nietzsche, On the Genealogy of Morals. Trans. W. Kaufmann.Vintage. 0679-72462-1

Ibsen, Four Major Plays: Vol. 1, trans. R. Fjelde, Signet, 0-451-52406-3

Goldman, “The Traffic in Women,” “Marriage and Love” http://dwardmac.pitzer.edu/Anarchist_Archives/goldman/GoldmanCW.html

Morrison, Beloved. Vintage, 1-4000-3341-1

Grading Percentages:

Participation (required and spontaneous)	15%
Presentation (music, interpretation, & leading discussion)	10%
Leading Class Discussion	5%
CLEo Exercises	5%
Two 2 Page Skills Writing Exercises (each worth %5)	10%
Three or four 4-6 Page Papers (each worth %15)	45%
Oral Final	10%

ASSIGNMENTS

Participation

This course will be primarily conducted as a discussion course. Students must complete all assigned readings by class time and be prepared to discuss those readings. Energetic, pithy, and thoughtful participation in discussion is a vital element of this course and constitutes a significant portion of your grade. Quality is more important than quantity. Considerate, active, and interested listening is also a component of participation. Apt questions and encouragement of quieter members of class count towards good participation. You can strongly disagree with one another but you must work to insure no voice is silenced. Improvement and falling off of participation are considered in the final participation grade for the semester. To receive a good grade you will actively advance the discussion, and always speak to the point with a careful use of evidence from the text and a consciousness of your own proper level of participation. Strive to be articulate, original and insightful. You will give me participation self-evaluations periodically during class and I will give you midterm participation feedback. Although I present some advance questions to consider, I often prefer to have your interests dictate the direction of discussion. So feel free to prepare by looking at these questions but also instead to prepare more by generating your own questions and insights. I may or may not spend much time on these advance questions. If you wanted to respond and we have not addressed the question yet, please raise it yourself. Otherwise you can be prepared to lead with or integrate your issue or the quote you found most compelling. Always have at least two quotes picked out to consider with the group, whether we get to them or not. If we do not address your quotes that might be the great starting point for a longer paper. It is fine if these overlap with your CLEo responses. These also will insure preparation, inclusion of all students, and student driven participation in smaller and larger group discussion, exercises and multimedia projects. These will all count towards your overall participation grade. There will be some small group work, in-class exercises, multimedia work and expectation of furthering the student-led class discussions and presentations, as well as individual work in larger class discussions.

In emergencies (sickness, accident, family or personal crises), please notify me promptly. If you know in advance that you will miss a class please notify me. Students are expected to regularly attend class, to arrive on time, and to respect the professor and their fellow students. Repeated absences, tardiness and disruptions will result in a drop in the participation grade. As our common guidelines emphasize “Attendance, itself, is necessary but not sufficient. Students must participate in the conversation.” If you have more than five 0’s for the course it will drop your overall course grade. Excused absences are 0’s unless you do the required make-up exercises (usually the CLEo exercises plus a paragraph response to the daily question, but check with me to make sure). Make-up work for excused absences must be handed in within a week of the missed class period. You are responsible for signing in on the daily sheet. Consistently being late and not doing preparation work (such as CLEo or at home exercises) can add up to additional 0’s. Students are expected to regularly attend class, to arrive on time, and to respect the professor and their fellow students. That said, a solid student need not explain or worry unduly about having 2-3 0’s on the book at the end of the term.

Small Group Presentations

In separate small groups of your own choosing this semester you do three things on your presentation day. First, you will bring in some music (no more than a 4-5 minute selection) you feel relates to the day’s reading (not earlier or later in the text) and explain how it relates to or reacts against the text. Bring lyric sheets if appropriate to share with the class (at least 6 copies, so we can look on together).

Next you will give an interpretive presentation. Again, you are responsible for demonstrating--and will be graded individually for--your presentational skills and content. Each participant will hand in an outline/notes for their part. A group handout for the class is encouraged, also. Often these might give the major quotes responded to in your presentation. While you can encourage the rest of the class to take part in your presentation, you are responsible for showing your own substantive engagement with the reading. This is your interpretive response to the primary source. This is not meant to present researched, secondary source or context information. Focus on what is read for that day (not earlier or later in the text). Part One is non-traditional (not like an academic essay). It could involve debates, reviews, court trials, storytelling, demonstrating skills, teaching, responding in singing, painting, dancing, board games, or enactments (some characters or authors from earlier texts could be included). Your group, as individuals, or smaller groups, could do more than one style of interpretation. Part Two ensures that we do not lose sight of the primary source evidence. This can be done individually or as a group, interspersed throughout or in introduction or summation. Include your purposes in choosing your approach. Consider two key issues often addressed in responding to texts from antiquity, anachronism and being "faithful" to a source or "the worldview" of the piece. Also respond to your reasons for and awareness of adaptation, rejection, parody of elements in--or whole--primary readings for that day (or limitations in information, materials, time and so forth).

Finally, you will lead class discussion. Bring open-ended questions you have some thoughts regarding, but do not dominate the discussion with your answers. Listen well to responses, have quotes you can redirect our attention to related to your question. Try to keep focused while allowing class interest to expand the discussion. Encourage the voicing of alternative answers while being free to expand on yours more fully. This will be assessed similarly to the oral final question and answer section (see http://people.whitman.edu/~bormans/assign.htm#questeval).

All members should take part in the last two exercises, if not all three. All of these three elements should focus on the reading for the day alone and not the whole text and be based on primary close reading, not outside research or context. There is a bit more leeway if the outside material involves multimedia or alternate translations or reworkings of a text. For example, images of Grecian urns for Keats, or lines from Byron’s Don Juan for Don Giovanni could be treated as additional primary sources you want us to approach as such, rather than as expert knowledge to which we should defer. You should be ready to start promptly on the hour but also leave me at least 6 minutes for class business (preferably at the end). Your grade for the presentation is for your individual oral presentation, although your group cohesion and supportive gestures are considered as part of your participation grade for the course. We will vote on whether to have groups of two do seven presentations or groups of three do five presentations. If we have five presentations they will be on 2/2 Othello Act V, 2/14 Candide Ch. 14-21, 3/5 Romantic Poets (but not “Tintern Abbey”), 3/28 Marx Wage-Labour and Capital, and 4/30 Beloved (112-247/106-165ev). If we do two more presentations they will be on 4/4 Darwin Origin of Species and 4/20 Hedda Gabbler Act 4. I could be persuaded, if your full group decides to switch to another text, but we will keep it to no more than five presentation days this semester. More on evaluation of the presentations is available at http://people.whitman.edu/~bormans/assign.htm#SPinterp .

Leading Class Discussion

Once during the semester you will lead class discussion with a classmate (for approximately 40 minutes). I will pass around a sign-up sheet for the following days: 1/24, 1/31, 2/5, 4/2, 4/18, 4/27, 5/2. See both the criteria above for leading class discussions after the presentation and the more in-depth information at http://people.whitman.edu/~bormans/assign.htm#discuss.

CLEo Exercises

There will be a number of homework assignments on CLEo this semester. Many of these will be responses for the reading that day working towards or out of a specific quote, often ending with an open-ended question for the class to consider that day. Share a quote that relates to your question from the reading for that day, as well, using parenthetical citation. You should have thoughts about how you would answer this but feel there are many possible responses. Do not ask purely information or clarification questions, questions which require knowledge outside the primary reading, and questions that are really comments (such as, "Why is X such a wimp?"). While advanced questions are still provided on the schedule, we may choose as a group to sideline them in favor of student prompts. On other days, you will use CLEo to share your current working questions or theses for your longer papers (noted on schedule below). There will also be some preworking exercises to prepare for class on other days (preparing directing prompts and character analysis for Othello or moral imperative musings before Kant and so on). I will ask your group to track certain issues across the modernity texts and report back on them periodically in CLEo (core dialogues).GRP1: Essentialist arguments/human nature.GRP2: Human consciousness creation and destruction.GRP3: Order creation and destruction (methodology championed and exploded).GRP4: Laws (human, divine, “universal,” scientific) championed and exploded.GRP5: Revolutions political and mental. While CLEo exercises are not weighted heavily in the grading (the 5% is based primarily on good faith effort, timeliness and completeness), their quality is also taken into consideration in your Discussion/Small Group participation grade and many in-class exercises depend on the CLEo preparation for them. Any exercises for the following week not posted to CLEo by 6 pm Sunday will be announced in class (i.e. check the syllabus, CLEo after 6 pm Sunday, and listen up in class to insure you do not miss an exercise).

Papers

In addition to the longer papers, you will have two 2-page writing assignments. These will be based on specific analytic and writing skills expectations, having three parts 1) reword or explain the issue, 2) show how it applies to the text, and 3) apply it yourself. You will write a discussion of concession/refutation related to Descartes (or Kant’s “What is Enlightenment?”) due on 1/29 and a specific to Locke definition of an abstract term due on 2/12. See http://people.whitman.edu/~bormans/assign.htm#2pgan for specific assignments.

You will also write three or four longer papers (4-6 pages long) which will be very like your longer papers last semester, though they will be of equal value to your grade. We will be doing required peer editing for the first paper and then the class will vote on whether to require draft exchange for two and three. Your peer editing will be considered in your class participation grade, so write your name on the top right hand of each draft you comment upon and make sure your peers hand in all drafts with their revised paper. You must hand in one or more paper topics you would like to use and two copies of drafts on the due dates given below for the first three papers.

Paper Topics Due	Two Copies of Draft for Peer Exchange Due	Comments on Peer Drafts Due	Papers Due
2/5	2/21	2/23	2/26
2/16	3/5	3/7	3/26
3/9	4/2	4/6	4/9
4/6	(4/16)	Outside class time.	(4/23)

You may choose to write just the first three papers or hand in all four and take the top three grades. They will be typewritten and double-spaced. Your essays should articulate a thesis or argument (i.e., take a position on an issue or point, even if not conclusive), and not be merely descriptive, informative or summary. Papers should go considerably further or in distinct, personally-articulated directions compared to shared discussion of the same texts. They should include a discussion of a text covered since the previous paper. This semester there may be more leeway in approaches. See for example the creative paper options given at http://people.whitman.edu/~bormans/assign.htm#creative. You might bring in some additional material from another class, for example, though these are still not research papers but close-readings supporting creative assertions. Papers must have a title and use MLA citation forms. Late papers will be marked down. However, you may have one crisis extension during the semester for the final/graded draft. You can hand in any one of the longer papers one week later (write “Crisis Paper” next to the date in the header) without explanation. I do not want to know what the crisis is, but try not to have early crises as you are allowed only the one unexplained one per semester. If any other paper is turned in anytime within 24 hours of when it was due—or if it is not marked “Crisis Paper”--it will be marked down one grade level (e.g. from B+ to B). After that the grade will be lowered one level for each additional day which the paper is late.

Oral Final

FORMAT: You will open the exam with a presentation of about 12 minutes (slightly under or over is ok, but I will stop you if you go past 15 minutes). The presentation should introduce your theme and present your thesis and some of your evidence. You should plan to present while sitting and to speak naturally from notes. Do not memorize a presentation or stage a speech, and do not read from verbatim notes. Speak from an outline. You may have your quotes written out or you may just have pages marked in your books. Be sure to bring the works you have chosen with you. After your presentation, for the remainder of the time, I will ask you questions primarily based on your theme and chosen works. I reserve the right to ask about anything from both semesters. This should ideally be a discussion. The better prepared you are, the more likely the exam will seem like a fun talk and not a grilling!

This opening presentation must include some discussion of Morrison’s Beloved and should probably include at least a brief comment on each of your other chosen works. For this exam, you should choose one theme that you think runs through several of the readings we have done for core and that you can speak about in relation to Morrison. Questions and ideas already focused on, such as notions of piety, morality, existence, origins, separation of humans from gods or animals, freedom, property, guilt, altered states, nature, evolution, and relativity of values are fair game, but your exam should not repeat work you have already done in your essays. Think carefully about this. I expect you to be invested in this theme, and I will be impressed by thoughtfulness and creativity here! In other words, if you can come up with an original theme, we will both have more fun and you will likely do a particularly interesting exam.

WORKS: You should choose at least five works to speak about. One of these works must be Morrison’s Beloved. One work must be from fall semester, and at least two others from spring semester. You may want to choose the theme first and then the works, or you may choose the works first (or at least narrow down a list) and then choose a theme that runs through them. See http://people.whitman.edu/~bormans/assign.htm#final for more on criteria for grading the final.

Academic honesty

This course operates in accordance with the College’s policies on “Academic Dishonesty and Plagiarism” (see 2006-07 Whitman College Student Handbook pages 61-63). All work you turn in is expected to be your own, created specifically for this class. Material taken from other sources must be clearly acknowledged. Plagiarism or other forms of cheating are very serious offenses that will result in failure of this course and can lead to academic suspension or dismissal by the college. This also applies to a person who knowingly aids another in attempting to gain credit for work not mostly of his or her own intellectual effort. All cases will be referred to the Office of the Dean of Students.

Updates

I will continue to update our class materials, with links off of the course homepage: http://people.whitman.edu/~bormans/core.htm.

Schedule of Readings

1/17, W Kant, “What Is Enlightenment?” What is “Enlightenment?” To what extent was this project part of texts in your antiquity semester?

1/19, F Descartes, Discourse on Method, parts 1, 2 and 3 How is the nature of knowledge problematic? What does Descartes’ method of pursuing knowledge tell us about his conception of the structure of knowledge? What is wrong with education?

1/22, M Descartes, Discourse on Method, part 4 Given radical doubt and Descartes’ first principle of philosophy, what is the nature of mind and body existence? How does this compare to earlier, shared authors’ conceptions (for example, Socrates or Augustine)?

1/24, W Descartes, Discourse on Method, parts 5 and 6. Paige and Daniel lead discussion. What do Descartes’ arguments about animals suggest about why there is a strong modernity focus on the nature of animals (and plants and the natural world) rather than divinities, for example?

1/26, F Shakespeare, Othello, Act 1 In what ways is Shakespeare’s Othello opposite to the project that Descartes was embarked upon? What are the sources of Iago’s resentment toward Othello, and do any of these sources appear to be well-founded?

1/29, M Shakespeare, Othello, Acts 2-3 2pg #1 Due. What does Iago do in Act 3 Scene 3 to manipulate Othello? What is the significance of Shakespeare’s emphasis upon Othello’s need for ocular proof? What aspects of Othello make him convincible?

1/31, W Shakespeare, Othello, Act 4 Lilly & Grant lead discussion. What does this act suggest about gender relations and master-servant relationships? Why does the foreshadowing and complication of the story take the forms it does?

2/2, F Shakespeare, Othello, Act 5 Presentation by Michelle, Amy and Lilly. Consider Desdemona’s speeches in Act V. According to Shakespeare, is Desdemona complicit in her own destruction, or does Shakespeare suggest that Iago has failed, since Desdemona’s love for Othello hasn’t been corrupted? Why does Emilia act as she does? How does Othello’s construction by self and others play out in the final act?

2/5, M Locke, Second Treatise on Government Ch. 1-4. Longer Paper #1 Topic Due Posted on CLEo. Melissa and Paul lead discussion. In what does political power consist? What are Locke’s grounds for his claim that “every man hath a right to punish the offender, and be executioner of the law of nature” when humans are living in the “State of Nature”?

2/7, W Locke, Second Treatise on Government Ch. 5-6. Are Locke’s ideas about property and power egalitarian? What values underlie Locke’s concern that land be improved?

2/9, F Locke, Second Treatise on Government Ch. 7-9. CLEo Group Core Dialogue report on readings thus far. Why is the consent of the governed important to Locke? To what extent is his interest in this consent practical and to what extent is it ethical?

2/12, M Voltaire, Candide, Ch. 1-13 2pg #2 Due. What do the characters mean by “the best of all possible worlds”? Why so much story-telling?

2/14, W Voltaire, Candide, Ch. 14-21 Presentation by Natalie, Garett and Melissa. POST THREE EXAMPLES ON CLEo, ONE OF SOMETHING MORALLY REQUIRED, ONE OF SOMETHING MORALLY PERMISSABLE, ONE OF SOMETHING MORALLY PROHIBITED (in anticipation of core dialogues on moral philosophy). How does Voltaire’s image of the New World compare to Locke’s treatment of America? What are the effects of economic activity on human society? Is Eldorado a utopia?

2/16, F Voltaire, Candide, Ch. 22-30 Longer Paper #2 Topic Due Posted on CLEo. Is happiness an illusory goal? Does Candide have a constructive message? How would you cultivate your garden?

2/19, M Presidents' Day Break / no classes

2/20, T 7-10 p.m. Maxey Auditorium. Film of staged production of Mozart's Don Giovanni, starring Samuel Ramey as Don Giovanni, Anna Tomowa-Sintow as Donna Anna, Gösta Winbergh as Don Ottavio, Paata Burchuladze as Il Commendatore, Julia Varady as Donna Elvira, Ferruccio Furlanetto as Leporello, Alexander Malta as Masetto, Kathleen Battle as Zerlina. Length of film: three hours. NOTE: YOU ARE REQUIRED TO ATTEND ONE OF THE SCREENINGS. THIS FILM SHOWING COMES BEFORE PROFESSOR BODE’S LECTURE (RECOMMENDED FOR STUDENTS COMFORTABLE WITH STUDYING AND DISCUSSING MUSIC OR OPERA WHO WANT TO APPROACH THE OPERA FOR THEMSELVES FIRST).

2/22, W Mozart, Don Giovanni NOTE WE MEET WITH ALL SECTIONS FOR A LECTURE BY ROBERT BODE OF THE MUSIC DEPARTMENT IN MAXEY AUDITORIUM AT THE REGULAR CLASS TIME. Draft of 4-6 pg #1 Due (2 copies, yes you must exchange at the lecture or by e-mail).

2/21, W 7-10 p.m. Maxey Auditorium. Film of staged production of Mozart's Don Giovanni. Length of film: three hours. NOTE: YOU ARE REQUIRED TO ATTEND ONE OF THE SCREENINGS. THIS FILM SHOWING COMES AFTER PROFESSOR BODE’S LECTURE (RECOMMENDED FOR STUDENTS UNCOMFORTABLE WITH STUDYING AND DISCUSSING MUSIC OR OPERA WHO WANT TO GET A HANDLE ON HOW TO VIEW THE STAGED PRODUCTION FROM PROFESSOR BODE).

2/23, F Mozart, Don Giovanni (focus on Overture, seduction of Zerlina duet, Champagne Aria, La Libertà & dances, Marriage of Figaro & food, Stone statue, Epilogue). What does the music--with and against the grain of the libretto--suggest about the character of Don Giovanni? To what extent is he heroic? How erotic, sensual, tied to the material world is the opera? Is he more a Lockean criminal or an exploder of the immature, gangelwagon-existence pre-Enlightenment? What picture of individual liberty or license is depicted in Don Giovanni? According to the opera, what can society do to curb Don Giovanni? Why so much doubling between the servant Leporello and the master D.G.? What does the end suggest about accountability and interactions with the spiritual world? What do the damnation and epilogue suggest about individual liberty and moral choices (or societal contracts and the containment of criminal or chaotic forces)? Why end with that old-fashioned, ancient song?

2/26, M Kant, Grounding for the Metaphysics of Morals Preface and Section 1. 4-6 Page Paper #1 Due. What is Kant’s philosophical project according to the Preface? What kind of actions have moral worth, according to Kant? Upon what does moral worth dependFor Kant what is reason’s utility?

2/28, W Kant, Grounding for the Metaphysics of Morals Section 2 to marg. 428. Post on CLEo, different exercises for the three groups. GRP1: one example from everyday life which illustrates the presence/absence of Kantian moral worth based on reading for 2/26. (Use simple, non-emotionally charged examples which can overlap with your earlier examples due on 2/14.) GRP2: In Section 2, Kant gives us 4 situations in which a decision must be made, and applies the Imperative to them. Does the CI fail to point us to what we feel is the correct course of action in any of these situations? GRP3: How does the Categorical Imperative differ from Christ’s injunction that we “do unto others as we would have them do unto us?” I want you to think critically about Kant’s Categorical Imperative (first formulation)

3/2, F Kant, Grounding for the Metaphysics of Morals Section 2 remainder. Has your paper topic for #2 changed? Post to CLEo if so. Post on CLEo AND BRING TO CLASS an example in which a subject has a difficult decision to make. Give some possible maxims that inform each side of the dilemma. Distill the underlying maxim and determine what the CI would demand of you. What are the implications of the second formulation of the CI? What importance “dignity” and “ends” and “means?”

3/5, M Keats: "Bright Star"; Wordsworth: "I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud", "My Heart Leaps Up When I Behold" Draft of 4-6 pg #2 Due (2 copies). Presentation by Grant, Obreanna and Michela. What is the difference between the way in which the “Bright Star” is “stedfast” and the way in which Keats wishes to be steadfast? Consider Wordsworth’s “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud." What is the difference between joy in experience and joy in memory of experience? In "My Heart Leaps Up When I Behold" what do you suppose that “natural piety” means?

3/7, W Wordsworth: "Lines Composed a Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey." CLEo Group Core Dialogue report on readings thus far. In Wordsworth’s “Lines Composed a Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey” how is the speaker changed? Do places change you? What is the effect of Wordsworth’s late introduction of the character of his sister? What is the role of the poet in society? Why might he be important?

3/9, F Keats: "Ode to a Nightingale", "Ode on a Grecian Urn", "On Melancholy" Consider Keats’ “Ode to a Nightingale,” “Ode on a Grecian Urn,” and “Ode on Melancholy.” Longer Paper #3 Topic Due Posted on CLEo. What is the role of art in society? What do the Nightingale and the Urn do to the speaker? Do they do the same thing? How might one argue that Keats’ “Ode on a Grecian Urn” is a Platonic poem in dialogue with something like the Symposium? Do you accept that reading? If so, why? If not, why not?

Spring Break ENJOY! Stay healthy & safe!

3/26, M Marx, Wage-Labour and Capital 4-6pg #2 Due (though you are welcome to hand it in before break). See Marx’s own questions/titles.

3/28, W Marx, Wage-Labour and Capital Presentation by Paul, Tasha and Terrence. What constitutes social progress and how is it possible? What is the place of reason in human affairs?

3/30, F Marx, Communist Manifesto. Are there laws of history and can we know them? What are the driving forces of historical change? On the basis of a careful reading of page 26 of the Communist Manifesto, explain what Marx might mean were he to say to John Locke: “(Y)our jurisprudence is but the will of your class made into a law for all.” On page 30 Marx and Engels list some radical elements of Communism. Which of these seem desirable and why?

4/2, M Darwin, Origin of Species, 27-30 (25-28 dark cover), 41-75 (38-78 DC). Draft of 4-6 pg #3 Due (2 copies). Natalie and Terrence lead discussion. Keep track of what meta-arguments are being made between the lines: why was the Origin of Species SO revolutionary? How did it challenge “social thought, philosophy, ethics, religion and literature” (back cover of your edition)? What constitutes evidence for Darwin? Darwin claims that his idea of natural selection is often misunderstood. What is the character of that misunderstanding, and what theological implications follow from Darwin’s correction of that misunderstanding?

4/4, W Darwin, Origin of Species, 75-94 (78-99 DC), 115-121 (115-123 DC, starts at “I have now” on 115 in both editions). After carefully reading Darwin’s account of the evolution of the human eye, explain why he believes that the theory of evolution is or is not consistent with a belief in God.

4/6, F Nietzsche, Genealogy of Morals Preface and First Essay Optional Longer Paper #4 Topic Due Posted on CLEo. Describe the creative power of ressentiment. What is the difference between “bad” and “evil”?

4/9, M Nietzsche, Genealogy of Morals Second Essay, sections 1-12. 4-6pg #3 Due. How did “bad conscience” come into the world? How does the festival depend upon cruelty?

4/11, W Nietzsche, Genealogy of Morals Second Essay, sections 13-25. How does Nietzsche’s account of conscience creation differ from those of Augustine and Kant? Explore Nietzsche’s atheism: how does bad conscience give rise to the conception of God? What is punishment for? What is hopeful about the Antichrist?

4/13, F Nietzsche, Genealogy of Morals Third Essay, sections 1, 8-15, 22-24, 27-28. How do Nietzsche’s “ascetic ideals” work in society? What does the Ascetic Priest seek? What cherished ideas or ideals do you hold that Nietzsche might criticize?

4/16, M Ibsen, Hedda Gabler, Acts 1 & 2 Drafts of 4-6pg #4 might be exchanged. What do Hedda and Judge Brack want? How is 19^th century, bourgeoise, European life constricting (examples)?

4/18, W Ibsen, Hedda Gabler, Act 3. Obreanna and Michela lead discussion. What polarities are defined by Løvborg and Tesman? Is Tesman a “man of ressentiment?” Why does Brack want Løvborg excluded? Why is Hedda jealous of Thea Elvsted?

4/20, F Ibsen, Hedda Gabler, Act 4. Hedda says she will die of “absurdities” (293). What are these “absurdities”? What forms of necessity operate on Hedda?

4/23, M Goldman, “The Traffic in Women” and “Marriage and Love.” Optional 4-6pg #4 Due. Why was this so shattering, so “radical”? How does Goldman reverse the terms of the debate?

4/25, W Morrison, Beloved 1-59 or 1-52 or 3-49 ends “still held hands.” CLEo Group Core Dialogue report on readings thus far. What is the structure of this novel? What point is Morrison making by structuring the novel as she does? What effect does Paul D’s arrival have on 124 (the house)? Sethe? Denver?

4/27, F Morrison, Beloved 60-124 or 53-111 or 50-105 ends “in the water.” Garett and Tasha lead discussion. Who is Beloved? What effect does Beloved’s arrival have on 124? What does Baby Suggs preach on p. 88?

4/30, M Morrison, Beloved 125-195 or 112-174 or 106-165 to the end of section one. Presentation by Paige and Daniel. How does Morrison knit Sweet Home into the narrative of events at 124? What sort of explanation and/or justification does Sethe offer for what she does in the barn? Is this an act of a freeperson?

5/2, W Morrison, Beloved 199-277 or 177-247 or 169-235 to the end of section two. Michelle and Amy lead discussion.What kinds of perversions of order does schoolteacher’s scientific racism enact? Think especially of the types of order that previous core thinkers have articulated. Are all white folk the same? Why are pages 210-213 written as they are?

5/4, F Morrison, Beloved 281-end or 251-end or 239-end. Passion Projects or Small Group Discussion. Is any kind of order restored by the end of the novel? If “this is not a story to pass on,” then why does Morrison tell it? How is perspective important to Beloved in a literary sense, and how is perspective important to Beloved in a political sense?

5/7, M Final Review

THE THEME MY GROUP IS TRACKING:

GRP1: Essentialist arguments/human nature.PAUL, OBREANNA, TERRENCE, MELISSA

GRP2: Human consciousness creation and destruction. PAIGE, MICHELA, DANIEL

GRP3: Order creation and destruction (methodology championed and exploded).

MICHELLE, NATALIE, TASHA

GRP4: Laws (human, divine, “universal,” scientific) championed and exploded.

GRANT, AMY, GARETT, LILLY

GRP5: Revolutions political and mental. NO ONE SIGNED UP FOR THIS.

I LEAD STUDENT DISCUSSION ON ____________ WITH _________________

I GIVE A PRESENTATION ON ______________WITH __________________

( & __________________________ )

MY FINAL EXAM IS SCHEDULED AT: __________________

KEEP CHECKING CLEo FOR EXERCISES! If they are not posted for the week already by the previous Sunday at 6 pm, they will be announced in class.